Alexander Pope: the rape of the Lock

He was born in London, very attached to his Roman Catholics parents, thus belonging
to a proscribed sect. Being a self-taught man he read Greek, Latin, Italian and French,
was very attached to Spenser and the metaphysical poets, and his model was Dryden.
‘Correctness’ became his study and aim. He was associated to the Whig party at first,
but by 1713 went to the Tory party, presided by Swift, since Whigs were anti-Catholics.
Since original poetry was not remunerative, Pope earned quite a lot of money with
translations like the Iliad and the Odyssey. The drastic changes of taste later in the 18th
caused many Augustan writers to fall into disfavour, which made his sophistication
appear merely a lack of ‘feeling’ and his satire merely malicious. In this century he has
come once more to be highly regarded.
His basic features are: Satire as a weapon to expose political and economic
exploitation, as well an attack on the corruption of modern life and letters. The
determination to define and to refine the tastes of his age. A carefully-crafted poetic
technique. The concern with precision and propriety, the use of parallelism and
antithesis as main poetic devices
-The Rape of the lock: The significance and impact of this poem on the English literary
scene is unquestionable, for it blends the most characteristic traits (rasgo) of 18th
literature in England. The poem is deeply suggestive and breathes a profoundly
evocative atmosphere, is one of Pope’s masterpieces and reaffirmed his mastery over
the satiric mode.
It emerges as one of the most representative examples of the so-called ‘mockepic’
tradition, which basically consist in drawing on (aprovecharse) the conventions of epic
poetry in order to expose the triviality of an ordinary event. Pope achieves this effect by
an extraordinarily rhetorical and grandiose language similar to Homere’s Iliad and
Odyssey.
Pope makes use of hyperboles, constant alteration of the habitual syntactic structure and
creates a very unusual ‘divine apparatus’ made of sylphs and gnomes instead of gods
and heroes. Pope deflates (desinflar) the most typical epic themes and symbols: the
figure of the hero, and ridiculed the adventures. Instead of Achilles as the main
protagonist we have Belinda, a woman who epitomises the ideals of beauty and
elegance.
The poem is based on a real event, and Pope was commissioned to write it by John
Caryll, who told Pope to write a humorous poem to encourage both families to laugh off
about the whole event. Caryll’s main purpose was to reconcile the Petres and the
Fermors since the latter believed that Arabella’s honour had been stained by the former.
Pope constructs, in an apparently frivolous and loose style, a pungent (mordaz) and
biting satirical attack on the social conventions of his time, focusing on the frailties
(flaqueza) and trivialities of the world of belles and beaux.

-Canto I: The initial lines of the poem introduce Pope’s intention where he
recognises the lightness of the subject he is going to deal with but uses a highly elevated
and pompous language. We find that the contrast between words and the implications
that lie beneath them start to emerge. Instead of gods and goddesses, the ‘divine
machinery’ is composed of insignificant sylphs, nymphs and gnomes, regarded as ‘The
Light Militia of the lower Sky’, clearly suggesting the enormous gap between the
former, which form part of the classical mythology, and the latter, drawn from the
French book Le Comte de Gabalis.
The poet also alludes to the changeable attitude of women and the repercussion it has on
those who surround them, as well as their tendency to keep up appearances. In this
canto, Pope exemplifies what the mock-epic is and how the poet uses the epic
conventions to downgrade and ridicule the proper epic genre. Homer’s Iliad and Virgil’s
Aeneid present gods and goddesses that guide in their adventures. Epic heroes are
strongly controlled by the gods, and in TROL Sylphs teach women to exalt their beauty
and to cultivate their physical appearance
Main characters: Belinda, and Ariel, a mysterious creature, which main function is to
watch over the ‘belles’ and ‘beaux’ in order to protect their honour and integrity, and to
encourage them to embellish their image. Ariel proclaims from his heavenly
counterpoint that a dreadful event will come to pass which states the implications of the
parody of the scene: Ariel resembles Zeus but is a insignificant sylph, while Zeus is an
almighty deity; Ariel contemplates a trivial fact while Zeus observes the horrors of war,
death and destruction.
Mock-epic strategies: In this canto, Pope sets out this complex poetic project as well
as the way he is going to subvert the genre. He benefited (sacar provecho) from his
recent translations of Homer’s Iliad, to construct his mock-epic poem. TROL shows a
deeply elaborate body of connotations associated to battles or to war proper. However,
the poem, instead of mirroring violence and cruelty, centres on trivial aspects such as a
game of cards. Although the style is elevated, the reader can soon appreciate that his
underlying intention is going to be humorous. The references to ‘trivial things’ or ‘slight
subjects’ undermine any ‘serious epic’ reminiscence the poem could echo. The way
Belinda makes herself up occasionally acquires the dimension of a rite, either pagan or
religious, and Popes approaches Belinda’s toilette as thought it were a religious
ceremony, also regards as a warrior that is preparing herself to go into the battlefield.
Her weapons are ‘puffs, powders and patches’.
The formal apparatus: The poem’s strongholds (fortaleza) are the use of the ‘heroic
couplet’ that Pope constantly employed in his poetic production. Elizabeth Gurr:
‘TROL is written in the rhythm of the iambic pentameter. Each line has five feet and
each foot consists of two syllables, the second of which is stressed, and the rhythm is
also known as decasyllabic. A rhymed pair of iambic pentameters is called heroic
couplet. This first canto starts delineating the basic features of the language that is used
throughout the poem. Pope’s language combines a grandiose literary form with the
triviality implied by the words he uses. In this first canto, Pope uses two formal
strategies: the inversion of the habitual syntactical order of words and the use of
alliteration, a repetition of the same sound in a sequence (“Puffs, Powders, Patches,
Bibles, Billet-Doux’) with a mocking effect. Their resonance reminds us of the sounds
that we can hear in the battlefield, however these words reveal the triviality of the scene.
-Canto II: The poet creates an idyllic scenario in which the sun-beams illuminate the
silvery Thames, where Belinda’s beauty stands out (destacar) and resides in her hair.
The Baron is mentioned for the first time, ‘the advent’rous baron’, a statement that
clearly satirises the real dimension of a character that is not adventurous at all. The next
lines illustrate how Pope uses mock-epic echoing the speeches and harangues epic
heroes deliver before entering the battleground. The factor that turns this scene into a
parody is that the Baron does not seek either to restore his stained honour or to rescue
his beloved lady, but simply to cut off a lock from her hair. Pope devotes most of this
canto to a description of the supernatural creatures in terms of gods and goddesses
which occupy a heavenly position that allows them to observe and evaluate what
happens on earth, and are in charge of safeguarding and protecting the moral and
physical integrity of the ladies. Even Ariel is referred to as the commander-in-chief of
this very peculiar battalion, which interventions finishes off by a very usual epic
formula: ‘He spoke
Main characters: The Baron is the fictional alter-ego of Lord Petre, who contrives the
rape of Belinda’s lock. It is relevant the way Pope characterises the ‘divine machinery’
with which he draws on epic imagery in order to portray the insignificance of these
beings that reinforces the underlying mock-epic background.
Mock-epic strategies: The poet describes all the preparations that precede the battle
and we can appreciate the solemnity of these preliminary moments. In the preparations
for the combat, Ariel is in charge of assigning duties and motivating his army to defend
Belinda’s honour, establishing a ridiculous comparison with the great epics
Formal apparatus: Pope uses the so-called ‘zeugma’, a device consisting in employing
on word to designate two drastically different actions within the same line. He employs
caesura in order to distinguish the different implications of each part of the line, and this
allows us to perceive the comical dimension of this passage. The incongruity of this line
lies precisely on the contradictory nature of terms it links, especially ‘honour’ and
‘brocade’. Belinda gives the same importance to praying and attending masquerades.
Issues connected with the heart are mixed up casually with minor matters
-Canto III: The beginning of this one is the most satirical. Retaking the image of the
Thames illuminated by the fading sun, Pope presents a biting portrait of England at the
time, concentrating on the state of monarchy and the judiciary, for he criticises the
excessive idleness of the noble and aristocratic classes. They go over their pending
cases very quickly which manifests the professional involvement of jugdes. The poem
focuses on the game of card reminding us the battles Homer depicted on his epic poems,
with a prolific warfare terminology that intensifies the mock-epic atmosphere of the
poem. The Baron eventually manages to cut off Belinda’s lock, and with this rape
Belinda’s integrity is momentarily degrade, and her defeat is consummated.
Main characters: Belinda is regarded as a trivial and superficial lady, exclusively
concerned with her outward appearance and dedicated to the numerous social events she
has to attend. When the game commences, she gets to know the Baron’s intentions,
which leads her to adopt a much more vigilant position, trying to position adequately
her ‘troops of cards’. The terminology that is associated with Belinda usually has an
underlying sexual connotation, especially when the lock is mentioned. The Baron’s
desire to get Belinda’s lock projects in some sense his own sexual appetites. The
allusion to virginity in line 140 turns out to be significant and proves the fact that what
Pope is describing is not merely a lock being cut off.
Mock-epic strategies: Cards live through the same hardships and fears as of real
soldiers, and Pope dramatises it by means of the language he employs, with which they
become personified. Pope always leaves some clues to encourage a humorous
perspective. The serious transcendence is deflated by references to China pots,
brocades, liquors that do not fit in the epic context. The formal apparatus: The language
is extremely elaborate and ornamented. ‘For lo!’ is a very distinguishable formula form
for drawing the reader’s attention.
Canto IV: The opening lines depict the aftermath (secuelas) of the combat. An
outstanding element is the so-called “Cave of Spleen”, which is entirely filled with
crooked (deshonesto) creatures performing activities related to sex. Umbriel, a gnome
that descendes to the Cave, as Ulysses did in the Underworld, describes the Goddess
Spleen’s realm. The vision of ghosts and sudden appearances significantly resemble all
that Ulysses experiences in the underworld. Following very typical epic patterns,
Umbriel addresses Goddess Spleen and asks her to help Belinda get her lock back, and
his speech is also tinged (estar matizado) by the same sense of triviality and looseness.
Belinda emerges as an enraged and hysterical woman, attitudes that 18th satirists
criticised about woman’s behaviour. The last lines portray a tense dialogue between Sir
Plume and the Baron, which shows how the finesse that has been the key in the previous
cantos is suddenly dropped.
Main characters: There are two important aspects: Belinda assumes that her life can no
longer be sustained on her external appearance because it is ephemeral; and she partially
blames herself for her flirtatious disposition.
Mock-epic strategies: Two moments that come to demystify classical epic narratives.
One is Ulysses’ ordeal (dura experiencia) in the world of the dead in which he
encounters important characters and listens to mythical stories about the past of their
nation. Pope uses an analogous framework in other to subvert one of the most
significant aspects of epic poetry. While Ulysses encounters sorrow and death in the
Underworld, Umbriel sees jars, bottles, and instead of stories about the mythical past of
any nation, he only listens to “Goose-pye” talks. The second moment is Belinda’s
lament with which Pope toys with parallelism with Achille’s mourn for the death of his
closest friend, and her grief about a nuisance (incordio). Pope disguises this apparent
triviality by means of a language that almost impels us to sympathise with Belinda’s
sorrow.
The formal apparatus: Pope keeps an elevated style that tries to emulate the language
of classical epics, and inverts the usual syntactical structure of the sentence. It is
interesting the textual references we find in it and which seem to pay homage to
Homer’s epic poetry. It seems that Pope, with the mention of Ulysses in line 82, wants
the reader to be aware of that parallelism.
 -Canto V: From the first lines of Clarissa’s speech we can see that the prevailing tone
is going to be a moralising one. The nymph wonders why beauty is praised and good
sense discarded, and why men can fall exclusively for the lady’s physical appearance,
disregarding her spiritual or intellectual capacities. She also refers that ageing can
affects ugly and beautiful alike. Nobody listening to her speech seems to agree with her.
Then, the confrontation for the recovery of the lock breaks out again.
Main characters: Clarissa’s speech dismantles all the values of the English upper
classes. It seems that Pope’s decision to add a new canto was due to the fact that all the
characters required a kind of counterpart (homólogo) to refute and contradict the ideas
they defend. Belinda appeared as a resigned woman who decided to begin a new life,
but he change of her mood after Clarissa’s speech seems that Pope wanted to prove that
women’s mood varied rapidly and unexpectedly.
Mock-epic strategies: Perhaps, it is canto V that best exemplifies what mock-epic is.
The reason why Pope added a new section to the four-canto version he published in
1714 was because he wanted to insert a modern rendering of Sarpedon’s speech to
Glaucus, taken from Homer’s Iliad. Both fragments are conceived as a warning about
how ephemeral life is. Issues such as the triviality of fame run almost parallel courses in
both texts. In some other moments where mock-epic can be appreciated: Belinda uses
the weapons she has at her disposal, like puffs and powders, and she blows a kind of
tobacco powder towards the Baron in order to make him sneeze. This enables her to
take advantage and to finally regain her raped lock.
The formal apparatus: A constant use of parallelism and anaphora, two rhetorical
devices that consist in the repetition of either complete grammatical structures or words
(Clarissa’s speech). It responds to the urgent and dynamic style he uses in the
description of the last battle. Inter-textual references are not only to Homer, also to
Shakespeare and Partridge (his contemporary).